Kaleido Star: Destined
by Pokepal Karai Natsume
Summary: Being chosen for the stage by the stage spirit. What exactly does that mean? If you are chosen, must you take the path of the True Star? Follow the story of a Kaleido Stage performer who wants to find out just that.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Kaleido Star nor do I own its characters. The only character I could possibly say that I own is my original character that shall not be named until the end!**

**Author's note: This story is told from my original character's point of view. The gender isn't mentioned, but it should be fairly easy to discern. Still, for those of you who'd like to know, it's a female character. She isn't really described, so imagine her any way you like. Now, on with the story. **

Destined

Hello. Kaleido Stage. A stage that I've loved for some time now. However, when things were just starting out, it got pretty rough for me. I wasn't too sure what I'd wanted. This is my story.

Why me? I ask myself this as often as I can. Yes, I love the stage. I still don't know why I was chosen for it though. Fool, the Spirit of the Stage, as he calls himself says I'm destined to be onstage. I can't understand what difference it makes if I can see him or not, however, he's always saying that as long as I can see him, my dreams will come true. Sometimes I wonder if he's talking about _his _dreams.

There have been several times when the tiny little pervert has tried to watch me change, or get into the shower. I'm glad I took my friend Sora's advice and tied him up before hand. Tossing him in a sock drawer helps greatly as well. When I let him out he usually comments on how it's rude to do that to the stage spirit, and how it makes me so much like Sora. Still, Sora has one thing I don't have. An unbreakable confidence and will.

There are times when I have my doubts about performances. I never tell anyone else about it. I go on, acting as though I don't have a problem in the world. Yet, somehow, he always knows what's wrong. The Fool is always there, telling me what I should do to improve. To become like Sora, to be a True Kaleido Star. Although, when I came to the stage, that was never my true intention at all. I just wanted to perform because I enjoyed it.

While onstage, I always used to love performing acrobatic tricks on the trampoline and trapeze. I once tried my luck at walking on the tightrope as well, but I got too scared and couldn't do it. Any other thing I've done onstage has been easy and fun for me to do. The audience usually liked it as well. However, when I came here to the famed Kaleido Stage to perform, a few things changed.

The day after the auditions I found out that I had passed with flying colors. I had made it into Kaleido Stage! I only tried out because I wanted to perform there for the fun of it. I knew that the performances had to be taken seriously and all though. Still, I didn't quite know how seriously I'd have to take things until later that day.

Kalos, the owner of Kaleido Stage had arranged for me to stay in one of the staff dorm rooms. So, I gathered a few things from back home and brought them to my new room. This place was much closer to Kaleido Stage than the apartment I'd been staying in anyways. I actually come from Hokkaido, Japan, and I'm fifteen years old. My parents don't know that I'm here though. I never even told them that I was leaving.

They would have never let me come if I told them I wanted to perform at Kaleido Stage. They wouldn't have understood. So, I took on a summer job, and when I had enough money, I bought a plane ticket. And then, one night, when both of them were sleeping, I grabbed my things and left. I decided that when I got here to America, if I couldn't make it into Kaleido Stage, that'd I'd get a different job and go on living here.

There would be no reason to go back to Japan. My parents probably wouldn't let me come back after what I'd done. I'd never contacted them since coming here. As I gathered my things to take to the dormitory at Kaleido Stage, I thought about calling them, and at least letting them know I was alright. I quickly decided against that. If they knew I was here, then they'd come for me and try to get me to go back to Japan. I couldn't do that. Not after coming so far.

As I was getting settled into the new room, a knock came at the door. When I answered it, I found a girl with pink hair and amber eyes staring at me. I almost screamed in excitement. It was her! It was Sora Naegino! In person! Right in front of me!

"Hi!" Sora said to me. "I heard that we had a new member to Kaleido Stage, so I thought I'd come and say hello!"

"H-hi!!," I said, unable to contain my excitement. "Would you like to come in?!!"

"Sure," She said, walking into the room. As she passed by me I noticed she had something on her shoulder. Something….that seemed to be a doll. I took a closer look at it. It was pale white, and had flowing green hair. A mask was covering the right side of its face.

"Hey, are you alright?," Sora asked when she noticed I was staring at her shoulder.

"Oh! Yeah!," I said, snapping to attention. Then, without really thinking about it I grabbed the doll thing and showed it to Sora. " What's this?"

"Let go of me!," It yelled. I screamed in surprise and dropped it. It hit the floor hard. " Owww….."

"SORA!" I yelled, pointing to the moving doll thing on the ground. "TALKING DOLL!!!!" And then, my wild imagination took over. "THE ALIENS ARE REAL!!!!!!!!" Yeah, I watched waaaay too much sci-fi.

To my surprise, Sora just started laughing. I grabbed her by the arms and shook her hard. "WHAT'S FUNNY? HAS HE PUT YOU UNDER MIND CONTROL SORA?!!" Yes, I did watch waaaay too much sci-fi. At that comment she only laughed harder. Still under the control of my wild and crazy imagination, and figuring that the doll had something to do with it, I picked it up and began banging its head against the wall.

"RELEASE SORA FROM YOUR CONTROL ALIEN!!!," I screamed.

"SORAA!! HELP ME!!!!," It called out. That's when I knew that it had to be controlling her.

"Oh no," I said to it. "She can't save you ALIEN!" I then tossed the thing on the floor and began stomping on it.

" SSSSSSOOOOORRRRAAAA!," He yelled, screaming out the word in agony.

Still laughing, Sora put a hand on my shoulder. " It's alright. You can stop now. He's not an alien." I turned to her questioningly.

" Then what the heck is he then? Are the doll people rising up to destroy us all?"

Sora couldn't stop laughing as she said he wasn't an alien or a doll. Instead, he was the Spirit of the Stage.

" So he's a ghost?," I asked.

" I'M NO GHOST!," He cried indignantly as he floated up off the ground. He patted the dust off of himself as he spoke to me. " My name is Fool, and I'm the Spirit of the Stage. If you can see me, it means you're destined to perform and become a star of the Kaleido Stage, like Sora."

I stared at him, wide-eyed for a moment. " I'm going to become a Kaleido Star?"

" That depends," He answered. " I cannot determine that. All I can be sure of is that you are meant to be on the stage."

That's when things started to change. When he started telling me those things. Never in my life did I feel uncomfortable onstage, until he said that to me. Practices were alright though. However, a month after I'd arrived I was to perform in my first show. I wasn't a lead character or anything, but that was fine with me. I had practiced my routine a million times. It was a pretty simple routine. All I had to do was jump from one trapeze to another until I got to the other side of the stage while juggling several shining orbs.

And then the main characters, played by Sora, Rosetta Passel, May Wong, and a few other people I've met here would come onstage and finish. When I got on the first trapeze I started, but for some reason I just couldn't stay focused. _You're destined to be onstage and perform. To become a star._ I thought of the Fool's words. When I got halfway across the stage, I was deep in thought, and hardly paying attention anymore. I jumped, aiming for the next trapeze. All were a good distance apart from each other….I thought I had jumped far enough. I didn't make it to the next one though. I began to fall.

Although, as I fell, I didn't panic. There was no safety net set up to catch me. I knew that falling could mean serious injury, or death. However, for some reason, I didn't get the sense that I would be injured, or that I would die. Instead, I flipped upside down and began to spiral, causing myself to go even faster. Quickly, I put one hand behind my back and extended the other one towards the ground.

About halfway through my down spiral I noticed an image onstage. Due to the spinning, I couldn't quite make out what it was by appearance, but I could tell by the voice. " I'll catch you!!"

" Don't do that!," I called back to her. " Sora, stand right under me and hold one hand up in the air." I saw what appeared to me as her hand raise towards the sky. And then, I aimed for that. I knew that I could do this without Sora's help, but if she could throw me up high enough and far enough to reach at least one trapeze, I knew I could finish my act without confusing the audience any more than they already were.

I was almost to Sora. When I got close enough to press my hand against hers I yelled, " Sora, jump, then push me back off into the air as hard as you possibly can!!!" Suddenly, I felt her hand meet mine and I was sent back up into the air. I turned upright and tried to grab the nearest trapeze, but I began to fall again. This time though, I turned upside-down and grabbed my feet. Then, I swung myself up to stand on it once more. I felt very dizzy at that moment. I continued my leap across the rest of the trapeze bars quickly so I could get offstage.

Later that night, the Fool had decided to come to my room and talk to me about this, rather than stay with Sora as he usually did. I was sitting on my bed, thinking about what had happened when he floated up to me. " That was an impressive save.," He said.

I looked up at him. " So you saw that?"

" Yes," He answered. " I was curious to see how you're first performance would turn out. Sora was able to save her first one impressively as well."

" Stop comparing me to her," I said, turning away from the spirit. " Listen, what if I don't want to be chosen for the stage? I didn't come here to be a star Fool. I came here simply to perform."

" I don't decide whom the stage chooses," Fool said. " As long as you know in your heart that you truly love and are dedicated to the stage, there's nothing I can do to change the fact that you were chosen."

" My goal here isn't to become a Kaleido Star. My goal is to have fun and entertain the audience. That's it."

" Everyone has goals. Although those are always surpassed."

After a while, in order to perform onstage correctly, I simply blocked out the things Fool told me about becoming a Kaleido Star and being destined for the stage. He appeared to me less frequently when he found that I wasn't listening to him anymore. Although he still came around when I was about to change cloths or take a shower. He usually ended up sealed in a wooden box where I kept pressed flowers until I was finished with what I had to do. Pressing flowers used to be my hobby in Japan.

Japan….my family and friends I had left behind there. I left without saying a thing to any of them to begin a new life here. And now I ponder if it was really worth it to come. I loved to perform. Although whenever he mentioned that I could be a Kaleido Star if I tried, I became nervous. There were many challenges along the road to stardom, and I hadn't come to the stage prepared to face any of them. I didn't want to face them either. Fool could sense this, I knew he could. However, he still came to me.

" Would you like to try performing the Legendary Great Maneuver?," He asked me one day. I was surprised at this. What performer didn't want to try that?"

" Yes! Yes!," I answered excitedly. This was probably another of his attempts to show me that I was destined to be a star again, but I didn't care. One of the things I found was most fun about the stage was taking risks. And that was the biggest risk of all. If I fell while doing _that _maneuver, it would all be over. There would be no way for me to catch myself and survive a fall from that high up.

" Well then," He said to me. " Would you be alright performing this maneuver with Sora? I would go and ask Rosetta, but I know that she's nowhere close to being ready at her current performance level." I nodded to him excitedly. Okay, maybe I could become a star just for that one performance!!

" I'll watch your performances then," He said to me. " When I've decided you may be fully qualified to do the maneuver, I'll explain to you what to do to make it work. You may have seen it done before, but attempting it based on what you saw will only get you killed."

After that day, I made my performances on stage the best that they could possibly be. I could concentrate better than I could before, but even though I was trying as hard as I can, it still didn't feel right. I felt as though something was holding me down when I knew there was nothing. If I still had this feeling during the Legendary Great Maneuver, it wouldn't work.

I tried to suppress these feelings, but there was no way I could do that.

A few weeks later, Fool summoned Sora and I right outside of Kaleido Stage to discuss this. " Sora, you're qualified to do the Legendary Great Maneuver whenever you feel the time is right." Then he turned to me. " You on the other hand, I must qualify first. I have only one question you must answer for me. Are you afraid of dying while trying to pull off the maneuver?"

I didn't know what to say. It would be a lie to tell him I was afraid. I wasn't. I was confident that I could pull off that maneuver with whatever partner he told me to and still come out alright. Although if I did the maneuver still feeling the way I did, then it wouldn't work. I didn't want to endanger Sora's life because of my own problems.

" Before you answer," He said to me. " Remember that depending on what you say, you may or may not be able to see me anymore." Then he winked. I smiled, knowing what he was trying to do. I thought about my decision for a while. I could go on and be a star with Sora by performing that maneuver with her. However, I knew that I wasn't destined to do that. Rosetta was. I'd spoken with her several times, and she was able to see the Fool as well. She _wants _to become a True Star. I know that someday she'll be able to pull off the maneuver with Sora.

" Yes Fool.," I answered. " I am afraid." Sora stared at me with wide eyes. She noticed I was smiling brightly, and probably wondered why. She knew how excited I was to try that maneuver, and probably found it odd that I would be so happy not to be able to do the performance now.

Fool bowed to me. " I cannot decide those who are destined for the stage or not. However, it is my job to help them in any way that I can. Your performances would greatly improve if you don't have to deal with the stress of becoming a true star. May you find happiness in every performance that you do at Kaleido Stage." And then, he began to fade away. I smiled and said goodbye to him, a tear of both joy and sadness coming to my eye as I did. I also silently thanked him for what he had done for me.

Sora seemed confused, so I decided to explain things to her on the way back to the dorm rooms. She understood. That had made me feel even better.

That night I called my parents. I had finally decided to tell them where I was. They were worried about me, and angry that I had gone without saying a word to them, just as I figured they would be. My father demanded that I return to Japan. My mother however, had said I could stay in America. In moments she had gotten my father to agree to let me stay as well. I couldn't believe it. They were actually going to let me stay here. They were going to let me stay and perform at Kaleido Stage!! It filled me with happiness inside to hear that from them.

They also said that they would visit frequently as well to still be sure I was doing alright. I was happy to hear that. After I made my call, I headed off to the practice room to use the trapeze. No one else was there. Or so I thought at first. As I grabbed the trapeze bar though, I could feel it somehow. I knew that the Fool was there, watching me and smiling. All I did was smile back and begin practicing. I didn't mind this. After all, if he followed me back to my room, I had Sora to stop him from trying anything.

Even though I couldn't see him, I could tell he wasn't following when I left though. He was still floating in the air somewhere near the stage, smiling at me. I smiled and waved goodbye to him as I left for my room.

Not all those who are said to be destined for the stage want to live that life of the true star. I know that I don't want that. I just want to do my performances and make the audiences smile at Kaleido Stage. I don't want to go for the ultimate applause that only a True Star can receive. I only want to do my best in what I enjoy doing now. My name is Karai Natsume, and for all those fellow performers out there, remember, stardom isn't everything.

The End

**This is my first one-shot for Kaleido Star. Please feel free to review and tell me what you thought of it. **


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